It seems I have a fan calling me out by name!

In any event, I'm the originator of this thread and it deserves a bump because the Boundaries, Feeder Patterns and Student Assignment discussion with the Deputy Mayor is happening this Saturday at Cardozo.


And to my stalker (apologies to everybody else, please feel free to look away):
I am a parent who advocates for Ward 2 schools and SWWF-S in particular, where my child attends. When a school's existence is called out trollishly -- I mean, out the blue advocating to carve up Foggy Bottom and send the population to neighboring schools?? -- I am probably going to reply.

Although your %-in boundary numbers are inaccurate, our population projections come from the same source. I don't call these projections radical. They are unprecedented (and I've heard city officials say as much).

Why shouldn't neighborhoods that ring downtown (Foggy Bottom, Dupont, Logan, Shaw, U Street, Bloomingdale, etc) and that are projecting strong growth in the number of school-aged children arm themselves with information and advocate for their schools? Other parts of DC may be growing faster in absolute terms, and Wards 7 and 8 continue to have the plurality of DC's students, but the relative change in the clusters surrounding downtown is startling, and residents want the option of attending a school within walking distance. Last year, they effectively fought to retain SWWF-S and Garrison.

I realize that neighborhood options have been taken away from many DC communities, but I won't apologize for fighting for my kid's school.

Chris, I love that the SWW-FS families talk about the growth in their neighborhood by PERCENTAGE and call it radical growth. It's just not. And if history is any guide, little of what limited growth there is will be captured by Francis-Stevens.

It's Cluster 5, right? West End, Foggy Bottom, GWU? That area is supposed to have an increase of 340 3-11 year-olds according to DC office of Planning between 2012 and 2017 (MFP p. 55). We're now going on 2 years into that 5-year prediction. Has FS-SWW picked up a good number of those 68 new students per year? At a 30 percent inboundary participation rate (above the current rates – check DCPS profiles or the DME information below), Francis-Stevens should have grown by roughly 20 inbounds students a year the last two years. How’s that going?

In terms of clusters with growth, look at Cluster 1, growing by 891 students by 2017, Cluster 2, growing by 2,254 students ages 3-11, Cluster 3, growing by 504, Cluster 6, growing by 603, Cluster 7, growing by 729, Cluster 8 growing by 615, Cluster 14, growing by 671, Cluster 17, growing by 813, Cluster 18, growing by 1,785 students ages 3-11, Cluster 19, growing by 514 students, Cluster 21, growing by 783 students, Cluster 25, growing by 1,550 students, Cluster 26, growing by 998 students, or Cluster 39, growing by 907 students.

Maybe their percentages are not what yours are between 177 students age 3-11 and 517 (almost a rounding error for some of these clusters) but these places are where elementary students are radically growing in numbers.

The most interesting piece of the new materials on the DME website is actually the Appendix B "Boundary Participation Data Table" (pp. 8-94) (http://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/publication/attachments/Appendix%20B_Boundary%20Participation%20Data%20Tables_DRAFT_Policy%20Brief_3.pdf) Too bad the data is from 9/9/12 and too bad it’s not released to DC public number crunchers for analysis, but that’s another matter. The difficult thing about Francis Stevens is the Francis vs. Stevens breakouts – they make cross-comparison harder. But the basics are that in 2012, 42 students PK3-8th from inbounds of Francis and Stevens attended Francis-Stevens.

Francis-Stevens inbounds population is growing, but by a relatively small amount, less than 70 students per year in Cluster 5, from a very low number. It’s inboundary participation rate is not good, especially in the Francis boundary, where the majority of the student population is. There’s a reason why the MFP you cite (http://dc.gov/DC/DME/Media%20Releases/newsroom_archive/Press%20Releases/Final%202013%20DC%20Public%20Education%20Plan.pdf) says that Cluster 5 has “moderate low need” and does not place it among top priority clusters for facilities spending. Closure might have required 50 inbounds families, max, to send their students elsewhere, in a city of hundreds of thousands of families.

It’s great that you fought closure and won. But don’t act like the stakes were that high for the City or that there’s radical growth going on in your neighborhood or your school by sticking big percentages on small numbers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great! Maybe they'll discuss the possibility of redrawing Francis-Stevens' boundary into neighboring schools and ending the experiment so that SWW can use both spaces as HS classrooms.

Trollish comment, but I'll bite: SWWF-S is the a neighborhood that is seeing radical increase in its number of ES-aged students, from 117 in 2012 (actual) to over 500 in 2017 (projected). I doubt that Hyde and Ross could absorb them. When SWWF-S was slated for closure, the new ES school assignment was going to be Marie Reed, in Adams Morgan. I think that was the major reasons that neighbors mobilized.

That said, why not bring your ideas to the Deputy Mayor on that Saturday morning?

Not True. Don't confuse the parents presentation of GOALS for enrollment (propaganda that helped in staying open) with ACTUAL enrollment numbers or DCPS projections. FYI.....DCPS only does projections 1 year at a time....it is impossible to have a legitimate 2017 projection of anything. Call the school and ask them the difference

PP here. Parent goals are not even slightly relevant. I'm talking about projections from the office of planning, which are based on census trends, building permits, long-range development, etc.

DCPS may only do projections one year at a time, but the Mayor's office of Planning and Deputy Mayor take a longer view. Pls reference the appendix at the end of this document for 2012 actual, and 2017 and 2022 projections. This has nothing to do with parent 'wishes', this is hard data created by a public agency and published March 2013, see pages 54-55, etc.:

http://dc.gov/DC/DME/Media%20Releases/newsroom_archive/Press%20Releases/Final%202013%20DC%20Public%20Education%20Plan.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great! Maybe they'll discuss the possibility of redrawing Francis-Stevens' boundary into neighboring schools and ending the experiment so that SWW can use both spaces as HS classrooms.

Trollish comment, but I'll bite: SWWF-S is the a neighborhood that is seeing radical increase in its number of ES-aged students, from 117 in 2012 (actual) to over 500 in 2017 (projected). I doubt that Hyde and Ross could absorb them. When SWWF-S was slated for closure, the new ES school assignment was going to be Marie Reed, in Adams Morgan. I think that was the major reasons that neighbors mobilized.

That said, why not bring your ideas to the Deputy Mayor on that Saturday morning?

Not True. Don't confuse the parents presentation of GOALS for enrollment (propaganda that helped in staying open) with ACTUAL enrollment numbers or DCPS projections. FYI.....DCPS only does projections 1 year at a time....it is impossible to have a legitimate 2017 projection of anything. Call the school and ask them the difference

+1. Furthermore, boundary discussions would be for the rights of NEIGHBORHOOD kids to attend somewhere. F-S is at least 80 percent out of boundary kids that don't reside in Ward 2 let alone the DuPont/Foggy Bottom neighborhood that would be realigned with other elementary schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great! Maybe they'll discuss the possibility of redrawing Francis-Stevens' boundary into neighboring schools and ending the experiment so that SWW can use both spaces as HS classrooms.

Trollish comment, but I'll bite: SWWF-S is the a neighborhood that is seeing radical increase in its number of ES-aged students, from 117 in 2012 (actual) to over 500 in 2017 (projected). I doubt that Hyde and Ross could absorb them. When SWWF-S was slated for closure, the new ES school assignment was going to be Marie Reed, in Adams Morgan. I think that was the major reasons that neighbors mobilized.

That said, why not bring your ideas to the Deputy Mayor on that Saturday morning?

Not True. Don't confuse the parents presentation of GOALS for enrollment (propaganda that helped in staying open) with ACTUAL enrollment numbers or DCPS projections. FYI.....DCPS only does projections 1 year at a time....it is impossible to have a legitimate 2017 projection of anything. Call the school and ask them the difference

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great! Maybe they'll discuss the possibility of redrawing Francis-Stevens' boundary into neighboring schools and ending the experiment so that SWW can use both spaces as HS classrooms.

Trollish comment, but I'll bite: SWWF-S is the a neighborhood that is seeing radical increase in its number of ES-aged students, from 117 in 2012 (actual) to over 500 in 2017 (projected). I doubt that Hyde and Ross could absorb them. When SWWF-S was slated for closure, the new ES school assignment was going to be Marie Reed, in Adams Morgan. I think that was the major reasons that neighbors mobilized.

That said, why not bring your ideas to the Deputy Mayor on that Saturday morning?

Thanks for the explanation, but I don't get it. Why did the neighbors mobilize, if few if any of them sent their kids to FS to start with? Would they prefer to have a real option in Marie Reed than none at all?

Anonymous wrote:Great! Maybe they'll discuss the possibility of redrawing Francis-Stevens' boundary into neighboring schools and ending the experiment so that SWW can use both spaces as HS classrooms.

Trollish comment, but I'll bite: SWWF-S is the a neighborhood that is seeing radical increase in its number of ES-aged students, from 117 in 2012 (actual) to over 500 in 2017 (projected). I doubt that Hyde and Ross could absorb them. When SWWF-S was slated for closure, the new ES school assignment was going to be Marie Reed, in Adams Morgan. I think that was the major reasons that neighbors mobilized.

That said, why not bring your ideas to the Deputy Mayor on that Saturday morning?

Great! Maybe they'll discuss the possibility of redrawing Francis-Stevens' boundary into neighboring schools and ending the experiment so that SWW can use both spaces as HS classrooms.

Anonymous wrote:Are other meetings being held in other Wards?

So any word on other /dates times?

Are other meetings being held in other Wards?

The Ward 2 Education Network invites you to attend a community education forum with Deputy Mayor for Education Abigail Smith on Saturday, February 8 from 10am to 11:30am at Cardozo Education Campus at 1200 Clifton St NW. In addition to her many other duties and responsibilities, Ms. Smith co-chairs the DC Advisory Committee on Student Assignment and the topic will be DCPS boundaries, feeders and student assignment policies currently underway.

DC has not undertaken a comprehensive review of its student assignment policies, including school attendance boundaries and feeder patterns, since the 1970s. Meanwhile, DCPS schools and public charter schools have opened and closed, neighborhoods have changed, and the city’s population has shifted. We know that families and communities want clarity, predictability, and quality school choices at locations that make sense for them.

The charge of the Advisory Committee is to incorporate public discussion, research, and analysis to provide the DME's office with fair minded, thoughtful, and informed recommendations. Specifically, the Advisory Committee will:

· Review current citywide policies on attendance zones, feeder patterns and school choice
· Formulate guidelines and principles for public school assignment and choice policies and practices
· Listen to the community and serve as insightful interpreters of public sentiment, concerns, and questions
· Develop recommendations and scenarios for revised DCPS attendance zone and feeder patterns
· Make policy recommendations on how to bridge student-assignment and choice policies across DCPS and charter schools

Please forward this information to your family, school and community members. RSVP to: W2EdNetwork@gmail.com.

These meetings are sponsored and underwritten by the Logan Circle Community Association, the Dupont Circle Citizen Association and Foggy Bottom Association, in conjunction with the Advisory Neighborhood Commissions from Logan Circle (ANC 2F), Dupont Circle (ANC 2B) and Foggy Bottom (ANC 2A). There will be light snacks and babysitters will be on hand in a separate but nearby room to care for kids.

twitter.com/Ward2EdNetwork